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Pentax
Pentax is a Japanese camera maker, founded in 1919. History The company that would become Pentax was founded in 1919 as Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Gōshi-gaisha (旭光学工業 ). It was originally an optical company and it produced lenses for various camera models made by other makers. These lenses were not always marked as made by Asahi. For a time the company was the main supplier of the Molta company (renamed Chiyoda in 1937) making the Minolta cameras. For example it made the Coronar lenses equipping the Semi Minolta and the Promar lenses equipping the Auto Semi Minolta. The fact that Asahi was the maker of the Coronar and Promar is repeated in various places, but no definitive confirmation of this has been found yet. The company changed status in 1938, becoming Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. (旭光学工業 ) or Asahi Optical Co. based in Tokyo. Its address in 1943 was Tōkyō-to Itabashi-ku Itabashi-chō (東京都板橋区板橋町). Source: . It would keep this name until it became Pentax Corporation (ペンタックス ) in 2002. A merger with the Hoya Corporation is set to be completed on October 1, 2007. The new name will be Hoya Pentax HD Corporation (HOYAペンタックスHD ). Japanese version of the news release found in the Hoya official website. The name "HOYA PENTAX HD Corporation" is written in capital letters. The first camera produced by Asahi was the Asahiflex, that was also the first Japanese 35mm SLR, made as a prototype in 1951 and released in 1952. One of the models of the Asahiflex series, the Asahiflex IIb, was the first 35mm SLR to have an instant return mirror, thus solving the problem of mirror blackout which had plagued SLRs up to that time (early SLRs left the mirror in its "up" position until the camera was wound for the next shot, blacking out the viewfinder). Pentax was originally the name of another 35mm SLR camera model, introduced in 1957 and successor of the Asahiflex. The name is derived from the shape of the prism used in SLR cameras (''penta''prism), and the ending deliberately looks like the Zeiss Ikon [[Contax rangefinder|Con'tax']]. In fact, the name Pentax was a property of Zeiss Ikon until they sold it to Asahi Optical Co. Many Pentax cameras were sold stamped with the name "Honeywell". Actually Honeywell was only a distributor, and these cameras were exactly the same as the ones stamped with the Asahi name. Digital SLR * Pentax MZ-D 2000 (prototype, never released) * Pentax *ist D 2003 - still in production * Pentax *ist DS 2004 - 2005 * Pentax *ist DL 2005 - also sold by Samsung as GX-1L * Pentax *ist DS2 2005 - also sold by Samsung as GX-1S * Pentax K110D - 2006 * Pentax K100D - 2006 * Pentax K10D - 2006 - also sold by Samsung as Samsung GX-10 * Pentax K100D Super - 2007 * Pentax K20D - 2008 - also sold by Samsung as Samsung GX-20 * Pentax K200D - 2008 Point and Shoot Cameras * Pentax Optio 330 * Pentax Optio 330 RS * Pentax Optio 450 * Pentax Optio S * Pentax Optio 33L * Pentax Optio 750z 35mm film K-mount autofocus SLR * Pentax *ist * Pentax MZ-S * Pentax PZ-1 (Z-1) * Pentax PZ-1p (Z-1p) * Pentax SF7 (SF10) * Pentax SFX (SF1) * Pentax SFXn (SF1n) * Pentax MZ-3 * Pentax MZ-30 * Pentax MZ-50 * Pentax MZ-5N * Pentax MZ-7 * Pentax MZ-M K-mount manual focus SLR Pentax K series: http://static.flickr.com/44/128338947_bdd0afb218_t.jpg * Pentax K2 * Pentax K2 DMD * Pentax KX * Pentax KM * Pentax K1000 Pentax M series: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/353054245_d5d7e1efca_t_d.jpg * Pentax MX * Pentax ME * Pentax ME Super * Pentax ME-F * Pentax MV * Pentax MV1 * Pentax MG * Pentax MF * Pentax MF-1, scientific use Pentax A series: * Pentax Super-A, Super Program (USA) * Pentax Program-A, Program Plus (USA) * Pentax A3, A3000 (USA) Pentax P series * Pentax P3 (P30) * Pentax P3n (P30n) * Pentax P5 (P50) Other: * Pentax LX * Pentax ZX-M (MZ-M) Screw-mount Pentax SLR http://static.flickr.com/27/47712649_8ceda2862b_t.jpg * Pentax AP * Pentax K * Pentax S * Pentax S1 / H1 * Pentax S1a / H1a * Pentax S2 / H2 * Pentax S3 / H3 * Pentax SV / H3v * Pentax Spotmatic * Pentax SL * Pentax Spotmatic II * Pentax SP500 * Pentax SP1000 * Pentax Spotmatic F * Pentax Electro Spotmatic * Pentax ES * Pentax ES II Asahiflex SLR http://static.flickr.com/56/150671964_42eaed5f36_t.jpg * Asahiflex I * Asahiflex IA * Asahiflex IIA * Asahiflex IIB Compact * Pentax Espio 115M * Pentax Espio 738 * Pentax IQZoom 70 * Pentax PC35AF * Pentax PC-303 645 Medium Format Manual Focus * Pentax 645 Autofocus * Pentax 645N * Pentax 645N II 6×7 Medium Format 1969-present * Pentax 6x7 * Pentax 67 * Pentax 67 II 110 film http://static.flickr.com/18/22827035_780ebea7e1_t.jpg 1979-1983 interchangeable lens SLR * Pentax Auto 110 APS film * Pentax efina * Pentax efina T Cameras from other makers with Asahi lenses Not all examples of the cameras listed below have Asahi lenses. With lenses not labeled as by Asahi * Happy and Eaton * Semi Minolta * Auto Semi Minolta * Minolta Vest * Minolta Six With lenses labeled as by Asahi * Mine Six * Press Van Notes Bibliography * Links * Pentax UK official website * UK based Club for Pentax Camera owners with forum * Comprehensive Pentax 67 Lens Guide * Pentax documentation to download at the official site * Pentax Manual SLRs * Boz's K-Mount Page * Stan Halpin's Pentax Lens Page * Pentax Discussion Mailing List * Pentax 67 Lens Info * Asahi Optical Historical Society * Frank Mechelhoff's Pentax Page * Pentaxiste French site * Tsuga_Non Pentax pages * http://www.butkus.org/chinon Listing of some 30+ Pentax manuals in PDF format (Adobe 5.0 or above required) and HTML version that can be translated. * Asahi page at Collection G. Even's site In Japanese: * Pentax Camera Museum, at the Pentax official website In French : * Cameras and user manuals at www.collection-appareils.com Category: Japanese camera makers Category: Japanese lens makers *